TADASANA with limb spirals

A little while back, I attended a yoga workshop by Godfrey Devereux. One of the most useful ideas I picked up from this was his use of imaginary spirals travelling down the limbs. I have found that this idea can be usefully applied to almost all the postures that I practise – but perhaps Tadasana is one of the easiest poses in which to practise this idea and feel its effects.

ENTER INTO YOUR VERSION OF TADASANA

Make your first approach to Tadasana. That is, stand with your feet parallel, hips over your ankles and your shoulders over your hips. Have a sense of your spine elongating upwards. [At this stage, my breathing is very low and relaxed – there is almost no movement of my ribcage and even the lowest front part of my abdomen moves in and out with my breath.]

APPLYING LEG SPIRALS

INWARD LEG SPIRAL
First, apply the inward spirals for the legs by:- imagining the top of the spirals at the top back of your legs (behind your hips); then imagine a movement (very little actual movement occurs) moving down and round the sides, and then front, of your legs from this point towards the pad of your big toe joints: feel this cause the pad of the big toe joints to be pressed down. [As I do this, I feel a slight opening of the back of my pelvic girdle and a slight toning in the very bottom front of my abdomen.]

OUTWARD LEG SPIRAL
Maintain the inward leg spiral (i.e. by maintaining the pressing down of the big toe joint pads), while applying the outward spirals for your legs by:- imagining the top of the spirals at the top of your inside legs; then imagine a movement (very little actual movement occurs) moving down and round the front of your legs from this point towards the pad of your little toe joints and feel this cause the pad of the little toes joints to be pressed down. [As I do this, I feel a slight opening (sideways spreading) of the front of the pelvic girdle and strong downward movement of my tailbone, which straightens and lengthens my lumbar spine. (This downward movement of my tailbone may feel strong to me because I have a rather pronounced lumbar arch.) Over the next couple of breaths or so, I feel an upward adjustment of spine and a springing open of my ribcage. Once this adjustment has occurred, my breathing remains mostly abdominal, but now there is significant movement of the lower (floating) ribs. As I exhale, there is a strong inward and downward movement of my floating ribs and, as I inhale, there is a springing opening movement. While my breath has become a bit more forceful it has also slightly lengthened – and there is a very slight warming effect. Aesthetically my abdomen has become flatter, my waist narrowed and chest broadened.]

Very often in my own practice (and in the classes I teach), I don’t continue with the arm spirals (as described over the page) as the leg spiral is a sufficient exercise in its own right.

APPLYING ARM SPIRALS

OPTIONAL PREPARATION FOR ARM SPIRALS
Prepare for applying your arm spirals as follows. Firstly, make sure that your arms hang alongside your trunk with your palms facing your hip or legs. Actively straighten your fingers and slightly spread them. Then imagine that you can lengthen your fingers down towards your feet. [I feel that this draws my shoulders a little downwards and encourages my ribcage to open and lift a little more. I become aware of some slight movement occurring in the back of my trunk and I can then feel sideways movement of my ribcage all the way up to my armpits. My breathing does feel a little more restricted – and indeed its length has about halved.]

INWARD ARM SPIRAL
Apply the inward spiral for the arms as follows. First, imagine your palms resting against a solid wall (so that your hands do not move significantly). Next, imagine the top of the spirals at the top back of your arms (behind your shoulders); then imagine a movement (very little actual movement occurs) moving down and round the sides of your arms from this point towards the pad of your index finger joints and feel this cause the pad of the index finger joints to be pressed into your imaginary wall. [As I do this, it feels as though space is being created between my shoulder blades.]

OUTWARD ARM SPIRAL
Maintain the inward arm spiral (i.e. by maintaining the pressing inwards of the index finger joint pads against the imaginary wall), while applying the outward spirals for your arms as follows. First, imagine the top of the spirals at the top inside of your arms (i.e. in your armpits); then imagine a movement (very little actual movement occurs) moving down and round the front and then the sides of your arms from this point towards the pads of your little finger joints - and feel this causing the pads of the little finger joints to be pressed inwards against your imaginary wall. [As I do this, I feel a spreading/opening across the front of my shoulders and my ribcage springs open even further. It now feels as though I am performing the complete breath, i.e. inhalation starts in the abdomen and travels up to my top ribs (with the reverse process for exhalation). My breath feels forceful in the sense that it feels as though the inhalation is pushing to expand the chest even further than it is currently able to and the exhalation is pulling the lower ribs in and down firmly. But my breath is neither particularly fast nor slow – roughly double the length that it was after imagining my fingers lengthening towards the floor. I find this exercise very warming – after a few breaths indeed, I tend to feel quite hot.]

SOME VARIATIONS
It is not necessary for the palms to be facing one’s sides (or for the arms to be alongside one’s trunk) for the arm spirals to be useful. Try the same exercise with palms facing forwards (good preparation for lifting an arm for a side bend) or with palms facing backwards (if combined with pressing arms and shoulders backwards, this takes one towards a back bend for the thoracic spine). For those who have difficulty with imagining a wall for pressing hands into – how about standing facing a real wall and placing the hands on the wall at about shoulder level and applying the same approach.